NextWave Telecom Inc.
3 Skyline Drive, 2nd Floor
Hawthorne, NY 10532
Press Release
September 20, 1999
For Immediate Distribution
NextWave's Investor Group Committed to Bringing Alternative Local and
Mobile Communications to the Market
NEW YORK - September 20, 1999 - NextWave Telecom Inc. today announced that
Texas Pacific Group, Oak Investment Partners and BFD Equity Associates are
leading a group of investors that have committed to provide in excess of
$700 million of new equity to support NextWave's Plan of Reorganization.
The other major investors include Bay Harbour Management, Joseph
Littlejohn & Levy, Canyon Capital and several other major financial
institutions. The funding will allow NextWave to offer open-access
broadband wireless Internet and competitive residential and small business
local telephone service from coast to coast.
“Oak Investment Partners is very excited to be a part of NextWave and its
plans to deliver the next generation of wireless telecommunications
services. The opportunities for high-speed wireless Internet access to
cover the last mile in fixed and mobile environments are enormous,” said
Bandel Carano, general partner at Oak. “We look forward to working with
NextWave as a partner in bringing together the financial and strategic
resources needed to implement this very exciting business plan,” continued
Carano.
Jeff Shaw, a managing partner at Texas Pacific Group stated, “There is
tremendous demand for high speed Internet connection and NextWave is
perfectly positioned to provide this access for fixed and mobile customers
over its wireless network.” “The substantial investment and strong
support from the sponsor group will provide NextWave with capital
sufficient to fund its business plan and finally bring a wide range of
highly competitive new services to the residential and small business
markets currently not available through any other service provider,”
continued Shaw.
NextWave's carriers' carrier strategy will allow existing carriers and new
service providers to market NextWave's network services through wholesale
airtime arrangements offered by the company. NextWave has received strong
interest from, and is in active discussions with, a large number of the
nation's largest Internet Service Providers (“ISPs”), Internet portal and
content providers, long distance companies or Inter-Exchange Carriers
(“IXCs”), Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (“CLECs”), Incumbent Local
Exchange Carriers (“ILECs”) and other existing wireless carriers regarding
proposals to partner with the company to resell packet-based data and
voice services that will be offered over NextWave's network. By purchasing
wireless Internet access and voice services from NextWave, a broad number
of companies will have access to and be able to offer competitively priced
wireless services under their own brand names without substantial capital
investment. By accessing NextWave's network, these companies will be able
to extend the geographic reach of their current networks and, in many
cases, offer a last mile solution for high-speed data and voice services
to fixed and mobile customers.
“The investor group, that includes some of the most experienced and savvy
telecom investors in America, is fully committed to NextWave and its
vision of bringing open-access broadband wireless Internet and competitive
third generation mobile and local telephone services to the United States
market,” said Peter Duerr, General Partner at BFD Equity Associates.
“NextWave is unique in its commitment to deploy the first nationwide
packet-switched, Internet Protocol based wireless network for high speed
data and voice services. QWEST and Level 3 have successfully deployed
IP-based networks on the wireline side of the business, and NextWave will
be the first company to extend the IP architecture over the last mile to
consumers in fixed and mobile environments through its wireless network,”
continued Duerr.
“We are very pleased to have such an impressive group of financial
investors supporting us in the final execution of our plans to provide
last mile wireless voice telephony and high speed Internet access at
speeds of 512 Kbps along with one of the most advanced third generation
IP-based packet-switched wireless networks in the world,” said Allen
Salmasi, Chairman and CEO, of NextWave Telecom. “Congress passed the 1996
Telecom Act with the express purpose of promoting choice for consumers and
increasing competition, especially by entrepreneurial new companies
bringing new services. Given that facilities-based competition for
residential and small business local telephone and broadband Internet
services is mostly non-existent today throughout the country, we believe
that for the first time we're bringing a true alternative to the United
States market that will fulfill the intent of the Congress,” continued
Salmasi.
Oak Investment Partners is a leading venture capital firm with over $2.5
billion under management. With Offices in Silicon Valley, Westport, CT,
and Minneapolis, MN, Oak invests in telecommunications, information
technology and e-commerce companies with over $1.5 billion already
invested in such entrepreneurial companies whose annual revenues in total
now exceed $50 billion and employ hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Recently, Oak led a consortium of strategic and financial investors in the
funding of Advanced Radio Telecom. Other recent investments by Oak include
Exodus, Inktomi, Airspan, Triton Networks and Wireless Facilities Inc.
(WFI).
Texas Pacific Group, founded in 1993, is a private investment partnership
with capital in excess of $7 billion, and with offices in Fort Worth, TX,
San Francisco, CA, Washington, D.C., and London. The partnership has made
significant investments in a broad range of industries, including,
technology/telecommunications, consumer products, healthcare, airlines,
food and beverage, and oil and gas. TPG has extensive experience with
bankruptcy cases and is well known for turning around Continental Airlines
and America West Airlines.
BFD Equity Associates is an affiliate of BFD Holdings, Ltd., which is the
lead investor in the debtor in possession financing to NextWave. The
investor group representing BFD Equity Associates are some of the most
successful and experienced telecommunications investors in America. This
group represents several billion dollars of prior investments in fixed and
mobile wireless, CLEC, and communications equipment design, development
and manufacturing businesses.
NextWave Telecom Inc. (www.nextwavetel.com) was organized in 1995 by an
experienced management team with extensive expertise in wireless
communications network design and operations, finance, legal, regulatory,
and legislative matters. NextWave intends to be a leading provider of
wireless high speed Internet access and voice communications services for
mobile and local residential and small business applications on a
nationwide basis. NextWave has made significant investments in network
design and has developed plans to build and operate the first third
generation (3G) Internet Protocol (IP) based packet-switched wireless
network. NextWave holds a total of 95 PCS licenses covering more than 163
million POPs representing the third largest wireless franchise in the U.S.
NextWave's licenses cover all top 10 U.S. markets, 28 of the top 30
markets, and 40 of the top 50 markets. NextWave's carriers' carrier
strategy will allow existing carriers and new service providers to market
NextWave's network services through wholesale airtime arrangements offered
by the company.
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Media Contacts:
Michael Wack and Michael Regan, NextWave Washington, D.C., Office, Tel.
202-347-2771
David Walrod, Oak Investment Partners, Tel. 650-614-3700
Owen Blicksilver, Texas Pacific Group, Tel. 212-688-6840, Ext. 283
Emanuel Grillo, BFD Equity Associates, Tel. 212-632-5500
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